Rago Auctions

Baltimore-born and Brooklyn-based painter, printmaker, and multimedia artist.

Received his BFA from the Pratt Institute and his MFA from Columbia University. He is also an alumnus of the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and the Marie Walsh Sharpe Foundation’s Studio Program.

In 2018 was the recipient of the prestigious Gordon Parks Foundation Fellowship and a year later was a participant of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation Residency.

Best known for his paintings but he began his career with a focus on performance and sculpture, later moving to collage and built environments. 

His works look at how popular culture and social structures shape an individual’s identity and in particular, what this means for black Americans.

Rose to fame in 2016 with his “Floater” series, joyful portrayals of black men, women and children floating in pools, which provided an alternative narrative of everyday black life and culture, one of leisure and relaxation.

Outside the studio, is committed to social practice work and recently founded the Black Baltimore Digital Database, an archive which will represent the immense cultural contributions of Black Baltimoreans.

Currently at work on his newest venture, the Last Resort Artist Retreat, an invitation only residency intended to give black artists the opportunity to rejuvenate in a shared space where ideas can be exchanged without the obligation of creating. 

Named one of six post-war and contemporary artists to collect and has been awarded the Studio Museum Joyce Alexander Wein Artist Prize in 2016 and the Louis Comfort Tiffany Award in 2009. 

His works have been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions and can be found in the permanent collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Studio Museum in Harlem, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and the Birmingham Museum of Art.